New championship leaders after round four

The recent O'Hagan's/Kopanong Hotel 500 in North West Province,
produced new overall championship leaders in both the Special and
Production Vehicle categories at the halfway stage of the Bankfin
Off-Road Championship.
Going into the Toyota...

The recent O'Hagan's/Kopanong Hotel 500 in North West Province,
produced new overall championship leaders in both the Special and
Production Vehicle categories at the halfway stage of the Bankfin
Off-Road Championship.

Going into the Toyota Dealer 400 in Mpumalanga on August 23 and 24, the
ultra consistent Eastern Cape pair of Greg Harvey and Boy Stone (Castrol
Queen Motor Spares Jimco) lead the Special Vehicle championship. On the
Production Vehicle front Nissan Hardbody factory pair Duncan Vos and Mike
Griffiths, running in Class D, have moved into a commanding lead in the
championship, sponsored by Bankfin, the specialist vehicle finance
division of ABSA Bank, after storming performances in recent events.

In the Special Vehicle overall drivers championship Harvey has a narrow
three point lead over early season pacesetter Greg Daus (Nashua Mobile
Raceco) with three drivers sharing third place. Billy Bond (Prolong
Raceco), Giel Nel (LUK Africa Truggy) and Marcus Taylor (Truck Time Ysco)
are lumped together a further 14 points adrift of Daus.

In the co-drivers championship Stone leads Marc de Chalain, who sits
alongside Taylor, and Anton Lombard, who co-drives with Bond, by a
comfortable 17 points. Sharing third are Tony George, who has parted
company with John Weir-Smith in the O'Hagan's/Kopanong Hotel BMW Jimco,
and Trevor Ormerod .

Where the Production Vehicle category is concerned, Vos and Griffiths now
sit atop the drivers championship with a handy 22 point lead over Hugo
and Jaap de Bruyn (Toyota Hilux) with Neil Woolridge/Kenny Skjodhammer
(Ford Racing Ranger) a further five points off the pace. Early season
leaders Piet Haasbroek and Christo Bosch (Castrol Toyota Land Cruiser)
now share fourth place with Mark Corbett/Juan Mohr (Century Property
Developments Isuzu) with the pair only two points adrift of Woolridge and
Skjoldhammer.

In the class championships Harvey has a comfortable lead in Class A in
the Special Vehicle category. He leads Terrence Marsh (Nashua Mobile
Raceco) by 24 points with arch rivals Weir-Smith and Atang Makgekgenene
(SAM Racing Jimco) sharing third place just a point behind Marsh.

Veteran Nel still leads the Class B drivers title race, but now has only
a three point gap between himself and Taylor. A long way off in third
place is Gerald Mundell (Raceco) who trails Taylor by 25 points.

De Chalain is also comfortably set in the co-drivers championship. He
leads Brian Scott (Raceco) by 37 points with Kim Dixon (Nashua Mobile
Racing Radflo) only three points adrift.

Daus still leads the Class S drivers championship from Bond and John
Lambert with 28 points covering the three drivers. Anton Lombard, who
partners Bond in the Prolong Raceco, has a seven point advantage over
Ormerod with the rest of the challengers having to make up some ground.

The change in the overall championship is also reflected in Class D where
Vos and Griffiths lead Haasbroek/Bosch and Corbett and Juan Mohr. In
Class E surprise packages Hugo and Jaap de Bruyn continue to hold off
reigning champions Manfred Schroder and Jack Peckham (Ford Racing
Ranger), but the gap between the two crews has shrunk to just eight
points.

In Class T former champions Woolridge and Skjoldhammer have yet to win an
event this season, but consistency has taken the Ford Racing crew 11
points ahead of reigning champions Giniel de Villiers and Francois
Jordaan in the factory Nissan Hardbody. De Villiers and Jordaan have won
twice this season, but three second place finishes have done the trick
for Woolridge and Skjoldhammer.

The O'Hagan's/Kopanong Hotel 500 also produced a change at the top of
the South African Manufacturers Championship. A poor showing from Toyota
saw them overtaken by Nissan who now lead by a slender 21 points, with
Ford more than 100 points adrift in third place.